Outraged Brits Demand FIFA Investigate Argentina for Falkland Islands Banner at World Cup

The United Kingdom wants FIFA to investigate Argentina’s national soccer team for a banner its players posed with Wednesday after beating England 2-1 in a World Cup semifinal in Atlanta.Several Argentine players held a banner on the field reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas,” using their term for the island chain. The message translates as “Falklands are Argentine.” The two nations fought a three-month war in 1982 after Argentina’s then-military dictatorship ordered an invasion to take the Falkland Islands from Britain following the kingdom’s 1833 claim on the mostly uninhabited island chain.More than 650 Argentine troops died in the fighting as did 255 British servicemembers. The United Kingdom still controls the islands in what was an international crisis that drew in President Reagan as a negotiator in the battle between Margaret Thatcher’s conservative government and the military junta.“The Falklands are Argentine! They banned bringing them to the stadium and forgot that we carry them in our blood and our hearts,” Argentina’s vice-president, Victoria Villarruel, said in an X post with a photo of the players holding the banner.Ms. Villarruel also posted a video that appeared to show Argentine troops from the time of the Falkland Island War. “Thank you Argentina National Team for giving us one more joy! It wasn’t just another match!” Ms. Villarruel said in the caption.Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office is among those asking for an investigation. “The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are. Our commitment to the Falklands will never waver,” the office said in a statement.The incident at the match comes after Argentina protested what is claimed was an “unconsulted and illegal” passage of a Royal Navy patrol boat through Argentine territorial waters earlier this month. The HMS Medway had stopped in a Chilean port and was returning to the Falkland Islands when the alleged incursion occurred.The passage was not widely contested until the tensions after the World Cup match. Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno posted a copy of a formal protest letter on X, sent to the British Embassy at Buenos Aires framing the passage as a military incursion.But it appears other parts of the Argentine government were aware of the passthrough after the British embassy gave advance notice and kept in contact with Argentine Navy authorities, which tracked the boat, according to the U.K. news outlet Navy Lookout.The pitch at Atlanta, however, became the place to carry the grudge. “The dignity with which our team acted, I think, is the perfect contrast and really shows them for their own behavior by contrast. And when it comes to the rest of it, FIFA really need to take the action that deserves to happen,” the United Kingdom’s business secretary, Peter Kyle, said in a radio interview.“The Argentine players who celebrated with the ‘Falklands are Argentine’ banner must be barred from the final,” the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey said in an X post. He noted that two Spanish players were previously banned for one match for singing “Gibraltar is Spain.”Reform UK’s Nigel Farage used the incident to call for an increase in military spending. “Whilst I am disgusted at the behaviour of some Argentinian players last night, the most important thing to do is build up the Royal Navy quickly,” Mr. Farage said in an X post.Punishment against Argentina for that political message would not be unprecedented. In 2014, FIFA fined the Argentine Football Association the equivalent of about $27,000 for breaching rules on political action after its players held up a banner with the same wording before a match against Slovenia.A request for comment from FIFA was not immediately returned. Argentina will face Spain Sunday in the World Cup final in New Jersey. With the World Cup ending this weekend, the tussle may well have blown over by time Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, arrives at London for a previously scheduled visit.

Outraged Brits Demand FIFA Investigate Argentina for Falkland Islands Banner at World Cup

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